What is Contract Decorating?
Technical definition, shop floor implications, and pricing strategies for commercial apparel decorators.
Wholesale printing or embroidery services performed for promotional product distributors, clothing brands, or other print shops on goods supplied by the customer.
Deep Dive & Practical Application
Contract decorators do not sell the blank garments or provide retail design services; they strictly sell decoration machine time and labor to wholesale broker accounts (ASI, PPAI, and SAGE distributors).
Contract pricing matrices are calculated with tighter profit margins per unit because the distributor handles client acquisition, customer service, blank shipping, and graphic art prep.
Contract shops rely heavily on automated purchase order receiving, live inventory check-in, and barcode production tracking.
Shop Floor & Profitability Impact
Contract printing provides steady, high-volume press capacity that keeps multi-head embroidery and automatic presses running during retail slow seasons.
The Print Life Shop Operations & Pricing Operating System
Related Industry Terms:
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